Wednesday, March 26, 2014

In Her Own Time

Sojo moves at her own pace with many things in life, but when she decides to do it, it's for real. Giving up the bottle, potty training and now riding a bike---all things she took her own sweet time doing. For so long now, she has had zero interest in riding a bike, but a friend was selling a cool one that we knew she would dig, so we brought it home and kind of announced that it was time to learn to ride a bike.

Dale, as always, was a super dad, running alongside her and encouraging her all the way. She was getting the hang of it, though she was still a bit rough on turning. Her best buddy was with her the whole time, riding beside her and telling her she was doing great. It was super sweet, and she was getting the hang of it enough to even ride to school, albeit with worried parents walking at a brisk pace to keep up with her wobbliness.

Biking before the broken ankle

And then she broke her ankle and was off the bike for more than a month. I wondered if she would lose interest again, but I was so wrong.

She's back on it with a passion I've not seen since she started scootering years ago in our dining room in Thailand. It's all bike all the time here, and she claims that breaking her ankle actually helped her become a better rider. As her mama, it's so darn cute to see her black ponytail in the wind as she takes off down the street. I do fear one day she'll tell me she ran into someone's car as she's still a bit reckless on her turns, but she's doing great and feeling on top of the world. So much so that every time she rides, she has this huge grin on her face. I know that thrill of the newness will fade, but I love the sheer joy at this moment in time.